![35](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/35.Tsuchigumo.jpg)
is a historical Japanese derogatory term for renegade local clans, and also the name for a race of spider-like
yōkai
are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of the kanji for "attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious." are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as suc ...
in Japanese folklore. Alternative names for the mythological Tsuchigumo include and .
In the ''
Kojiki
The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...
'' and in ''
Nihon Shoki'', the name was phonetically spelled with the four kanji (for the four morae ''tsu-chi-gu-mo''),
and these words were frequently used in the
fudoki
are ancient reports on provincial culture, geography, and oral tradition presented to the reigning monarchs of Japan, also known as local gazetteers. They contain agricultural, geographical, and historical records as well as mythology and ...
of
Mutsu,
Echigo
was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen, Iwashiro, Kōzuke, Shinano, and Etchū Provinces. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Echigo''" in . It corresponds today to Niigata ...
,
Hitachi
() is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...
,
Settsu
is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
As of 2017, the city has an estimated population of 85,290 and a population density of 5,664 people per km². The total area is 14.88 km².
Surrounding municipalities
*Osaka Prefecture
**Higa ...
,
Bungo and
Hizen
was an old province of Japan in the area of the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō. It did not incl ...
as well as others.
The Japanese name for large ground-dwelling
tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although ...
s, ōtsuchigumo, is due to their perceived resemblance to the creature of the myth, rather than the myth being named for the spider. Japan has no native species of tarantula, and the similarities between the mythical and the actual creature—huge wandering spiders with an obvious face that like to hide in burrows—were entirely coincidental. The fact that the later iterations of the myth specifically refer to the body being that of a tiger, however, does imply that the description was influenced to some degree by the
Chinese bird spider, which is commonly referred to as the "earth tiger" in its native habitat for its furry, prominently striped body and aggressive disposition.
In history
According to the 18th-century historian
Motoori Norinaga
was a Japanese scholar of ''Kokugaku'' active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies.
Life
Norinaga was born in what is now Matsusaka in Ise Province (now part of Mie Pre ...
, in ancient Japan, Tsuchigumo was used as a derogatory term against aborigines who did not show allegiance to the emperor of Japan.
There is some debate on whether the mythical spider-creature or the historical clans came first. One theory is based on the knowledge that beginning with the earliest historical records, those who waged war against the imperial court were referred to as
oni
An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess i ...
by the imperial court, both in scorn and as a way to demonize enemies of the court by literally referring to them as demons. Tsuchigumo may have been a pre-existing but obscure myth picked as the term of choice for a more humble threat to the empire, after which it was popularized. Alternately, the word tsuchigumo has been identified a derivation of an older derogatory term, tsuchigomori (土隠), which roughly translates as "those who hide in the ground". This term refers to a common practice among many of the rural clans: utilizing existing cave systems and creating fortified hollow earthen mounds for both residential and military purposes. This implies that the use of the name for renegade clans began essentially as a pun, and over time tales surrounding a ''literal'' race of intelligent, occasionally anthropomorphic, spiders grew from this historical usage, first as allegory, then as myth.
In the following examples from ancient historical records and accounts, tsuchigumo is used variously to describe well-known individual bandits, rebels, or unruly clan leaders, and also applied to clans as a whole. In some cases it is unclear in which way the term is being used. Its usage as a figurative term denotes that the person or clan referred to was defying Imperial authority in some covert but consistent fashion, generally by
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
or actively eluding discovery.
Tsuchigumo of the Katsuragi
Of the clans referred to as tsuchigumo, those of the
Mount Yamato Katsuragi
or simply Mount Katsuragi is a mountain in the Kongō Range straddling the prefectural border between Chihayaakasaka, Osaka and Gose, Nara in Japan. The peak elevation is . The mountain is located along the Gose Line of the Kintetsu Railway.
The ...
are particularly well known. was said to be the remains where
Emperor Jimmu
was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' and '' Kojiki''. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture"
Yamato Province
was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, the ...
, the unique physical characteristics of the tsuchigumo were that they were tailed people. In the ''
Nihon Shoki'', the founder of the Yoshino no Futo (吉野首) were written to be "with a glowing tail," the founder of Yoshino no Kuzu (国樔) were stated to "have tails and come along pushing rocks (磐石, iwa)," presenting the indigenous people of Yamato as non-humans. Even in the Kojiki, they shared a common trait with the people of Osaka (忍坂) (now Sakurai city) in that they were "tsuchigumo (土雲) who have grown tails."
Records from the Keiko generation and others
In the ''Hizen no Kuni Fudoki'', there is an article writing that when Emperor Keiko made an imperial visit to Shiki island (志式島, Hirado island) (year 72 in the legends), the expedition encountered a pair of islands in the middle of sea. Seeing smoke rising from inland, the Emperor ordered an investigation of the islands, and discovered that the tsuchigumo Oomimi (大耳) lived on the smaller island, and Taremimi (垂耳) lived on the larger island. When both were captured and about to be killed, Oomimi and Taremimi lowered their foreheads to the ground and fell prostrate, and pleaded, "we will from now on make offerings to the emperor" and presented fish products and begged for pardon.
Also, in the ''Bungo no Kuni Fudoki'', there appeared many tsuchigumo, such as the Itsuma-hime (五馬姫) of Itsuma mountain (五馬山), the Uchisaru (打猴), Unasaru (頸猴), Yata (八田), Kunimaro (國摩侶), and Amashino (網磯野), of Negi field (禰宜野), the Shinokaomi (小竹鹿臣) of Shinokaosa (小竹鹿奥), and the Ao (青) and Shiro (白) of Nezumi cavern (鼠の磐窟). Other than these, there is also the story of Tsuchigumo Yasome (土蜘蛛八十女), who made preparations in the mountains to resist against the imperial court, but was utterly defeated. This word "Yaso" (八十), literally "eighty," is a figurative term for "many," so this story is interpreted to mean that many of the female chief class opposed the Yamato imperial court, and met a heroic end, choosing to die alongside their men. In the story, Yaso, one local female chief, was greatly popular among the people, and she separated her allies from those resisting the imperial forces. Tsuchigumo Yasome's whereabouts were reported to the emperor, and for her efforts she was spared.
According to writings in the Nihon Shoki, in the 12th year of emperor Keiko (year 82 in the legends), in winter, October, emperor Keiko arrived in Hayami town, Ookita (now Ooita), and heard from the queen of the land, Hayatsuhime (速津媛) that there was a big cave in the mountain, called the Nezumi cave, where two tsuchigumo, Shiro and Ao, lived. In Negino (禰疑野), Naoiri, they were informed of three more tsuchigumo named Uchizaru (打猿), Yata (八田), and Kunimaro (国摩侶, 国麻呂). These five had great amount of allies, and would not follow the emperor's commands.
Yōkai tsuchigumo
![Kuniyoshi Utagawa, Minamoto Yorimitsu also known as Raiko](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Kuniyoshi_Utagawa%2C_Minamoto_Yorimitsu_also_known_as_Raiko.jpg)
From the
Japanese middle ages
The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to Japanese Paleolithic, prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millenni ...
(
Kamakura
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939.
Kamak ...
/
Muromachi
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
/
Azuchi-Momoyama periods, or the late 12th to the early 17th centuries) onward, ''tsuchigumo'' began to be depicted as giant, monstrous spiders.
A commonly cited early text depicting the ''yōkai tsuchigumo'' is ''
The Tale of the Heike
is an epic poetry, epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being ...
'', or rather some variant texts of the ''Heike''. This work, which was passed down orally among ''
biwa
The is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime duri ...
'' lute players, has a complicated textual history and numerous variants, including the massively expanded ''
Genpei Jōsuiki
The , is a 48-book extended version of the ''Heike Monogatari'' (''The Tale of the Heike'').
References
External links
at University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research univ ...
'', and some versions include an extended passage on swords, known as the
"Sword Scroll", or ''tsurugi-no-maki''. This is regarded as one of the most important and influential texts that depict the conflict between Yorimitsu and the ''tsuchigumo'', and is the source for many later artistic representations. It describes Yorimitsu's using the sword to defeat a ''yamagumo'', which led to his renaming it 'Kumokiri' (蜘蛛切, "Spider-Cutter"). At present,
Daikaku-ji
is a Shingon Buddhist temple in Ukyō-ku, a western ward in the city of Kyoto, Japan. The site was originally a residence of Emperor Saga (785–842 CE), and later various emperors conducted their cloistered rule from here. The ''Saga Go-ry ...
Temple,
Hakone Shrine
The is a Japanese Shinto shrine on the shores of Lake Ashi in the town of Hakone in the Ashigarashimo District of Kanagawa Prefecture.Kotodamaya.com"Hakone Jinja" retrieved 2013-1-27. It is also known as the . Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2 ...
and an individual, have ''
tachi
A is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (''nihonto'') worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. ''Tachi'' and ''katana'' generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when sheathed, the latter depending on t ...
'' that have been handed down as ''Hizamaru'', which are also called by other names such as 'Kumokiri', 'Hoemaru' and 'Usumidori' based on various legends.
Tsumugu Japan art & culture.
Yomiuri shimbun
The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...
.
Works such as the 14th-century picture scroll ''Tsuchigumo Sōshi
''Tsuchigumo Sōshi'' (土蜘蛛草紙) is a 14th-century Japanese picture scroll depicting the heroic exploits of Minamoto no Raikō in his battle against an enormous spider monster. Authorship and date
The pictures in ''Tsuchigumo Sōshi'' are ...
'' and the 15th-century Noh drama ''Tsuchigumo
is a historical Japanese derogatory term for renegade local clans, and also the name for a race of spider-like yōkai in Japanese folklore. Alternative names for the mythological Tsuchigumo include and . In the ''Kojiki'' and in '' Nihon Shoki ...
'' envision various versions of a legend in which Minamoto no Yorimitsu
, also known as Minamoto no Raikō, served the regents of the Fujiwara clan along with his brother Yorinobu, taking the violent measures the Fujiwara were themselves unable to take. He is one of the earliest Minamoto of historical note for his mil ...
, also known as Raikō, a famous 10th-century general and ancestor of the Minamoto clan
was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...
defeat an enormous spider ''yōkai
are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of the kanji for "attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious." are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as suc ...
'' referred to as a ''tsuchigumo'' or ''yamagumo'' ("earth spider" or "mountain spider", respectively). In some versions, Yorimitsu and his retainer Watanabe no Tsuna
(953–1025) was a Japanese samurai, a companion in arms of Minamoto no Yorimitsu (also known as Raikō), one of the earliest samurai to be famed for his military exploits in a number of tales and legends.
Watanabe no Tsuna was the first pers ...
pursue the spider, which takes various forms such as a beautiful woman, and when they defeat it they cut it open and skulls pour out of its torso, while in others, Yorimitsu is incapacitated and a young retainer hunts the spider down in his stead.
''Tsuchigumo Sōshi'' (see scrolling image below) interestingly contains a visual depiction that doesn't appear to match the accompanying text, as the text has Yorimitsu and Tsuna take down an enormous, 60-foot monster that they later realize is a giant spider, but the imagery shows them doing battle with two ''oni
An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess i ...
'', or ogre-demons, resembling Gozu and Mezu, which perhaps represent another of the ''tsuchigumo''s transformations.
See also
* Jorōgumo
References
Citations
Works cited
*
*
Further reading
* Asiatic Society of Japan. ''Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan'': Volume 7. The Society. (1879)
* Aston, William George. ''Shinto: the way of the gods''. Longmans, Green, and Co. (1905)
* Brinkley, Frank and Dairoku Kikuchi. ''A history of the Japanese people from the earliest times to the end of the Meiji era''. The Encyclopædia Britannica Co. (1915)
* Horne, Charles Francis. ''The Sacred books and early literature of the East''. Parke, Austin, and Lipscomb: (1917)
* ''Monsters, Animals, and Other Worlds: A Collection of Short Medieval Japanese Tales''. Edited by Keller Kimbrough and Haruo Shirane. New York Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, 2018. pp. 23-30. https://doi.org/10.7312/kimb18446-003
*
*
* Reider, Noriko T. ''Japanese Demon Lore: Oni, From Ancient Times to the Present''. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2010. pp. 165-169 (two examples of Tsuchigumo in modern media).
*
* ''Studio international'', Volume 18. Studio Trust. (1900)
*
* Trench, K. Paul. ''Nihongi: chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D. 697'': Volume 1. The Society. Trübner. (1896)
{{Japanese folklore long
Mythological spiders
Shapeshifting
Japanese mythology
Mythological monsters
Yōkai